So Simmons is finally out of Philly. I feel like the Nets won this trade, as long as Simmons comes back to his best. Simmons problems were clearly mental and exacerbated by the surroundings in Philly. I understand why teams were low balling on offers, but he's literally a jump shot away from being a perennial MVP candidate and even with out that the rest of his game makes him elite. Now he's on a team with Kyrie (if Kyrie actually plays, that's a whole other situation) KD, Seth Curry, Patty Mills, Joe Harris, all of whom are legit shooters and take the pressure off Simmons.
Philly get Harden, who's still elite, but hasn't looked at his best. Maybe that's due to his frustrations in Brooklyn and he's going to come out blazing, but it could well be the start of a natural decline. He's also not managed to get over the line and win the finals yet with lots of talent around him in the past, I'm not convinced Philly is going to be any different.
In my eyes, on paper, both teams got better with this trade. The issue is, Brooklyn were the better team, on paper, in the first place. Both have problems that they need to sort out, and clearly Brooklyn have big issues at the moment (11 game losing streak?! seriously??) with a pat-timer, KD out injured and Harden now gone. This season is pretty much over for them unless they get a huge turn-around. Next year though I don't think the vaccine mandate will be in place, the guys they've brought in will be playing and they could easily be the best team in the East (except for the Celtics, who are always the best regardless of how well they play...). Philly on the other hand have a big guy who's playing out of his skin, but has suffered his share of injuries and a guy who's never quite made it in the finals. This year they're clearly more likely to win it than Brooklyn, but who knows which Embiid they'll get next year, and if Harden will decide he wants to go somewhere else?